Railway-car door



March 10, 1931. F. DlTcHFlELD RAILWAY CAR DOOR Filed March 7, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheetl 1 MalCh 10, 1931. D|TCHF|ELD 1,795,642

RAILWAY CAR'DOOR- Filed March '7, 192B 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a, www M mh ww Patented Mar. 10, 1931 FRANK DITCHFIELD, F CLEVELAND, OHIO,

CO., 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO,

AssifGNoa 'ro YoUNGs'rowN `s'rrinr.. Doon A CORPORATION.. or onto RAILWAY-CAR DOOI Application filed March 7,

This invention relates to improvements in railway car doors. A In the use of railway box cars there is a gradually increasinguse of steel doors, which as demonstrated t e desirable qualities of doors of this type, and hasalso disclosed the necessity for providing rugged reinforcement-s for the doors, articularly at the forward and rearward edges thereof, which will be capable of withstanding the severe service to which the doors are subjected in actual use. This must be accomplished without unduly increasing the weight of the doors and without increasing the cost of production. The front and rear edges of the doors especially are subjected to rough usage, incident to opening and closing the doors, which tends to cause distortion of the edges thereof to such an extent that the doors will not operate zo properly and deteriorate rapidly unless expensive repairs are made at frequent intervals. In order to strengthen the front and rear edges of metallic doors, many expedients have been tested, one of which resides in the provision of relativel heavy commercial rolled sections secure along the edges of the doors. This expedient solves many o the ditiiculties above mentioned, but great difficulty has been encountered in securing the sections to the sheet metal of the door in such manner that they will stand up in service, a particularly important disadvantage lying in the tendency of the heavier commercial sections to rotate about their longitudinal axes a5 under the blows which they sustain, hence permitting distortion of the door edges, which they are designed to prevent, the displacement of the sections servin to tear out the sheet metal at the points'o connection 40 with the sections, resulting in serious injury to the door. 4Many additional problems are involved in producing reinforced constructions at the front and rear edges of the door, and in connection with which the spark and i 15 weather seals may be of suiciently rugged construction to stand up in service.

An object of this invention is to provide a reinforced door construction in which the body portionis made up of reinforced sheet 5o metal panels, and wherein the frontend rear 1928. VSerial No. 259,682.

edges of the door comprise relatively heavy metal bars formedin a novel manner espe cially adapting them for connection with the sheet metal body portion ofthe door as to present a rugged construction well able to withstand the heavy blows to which the edges of the door are subjected, `and-which are so formed and connected. to the sheet metal body portion as to successfully resist any rotating or twistin tendencies` of the bars about their longitu inal axes, this result being accomplished through the particular formation of the bars and the manner/in which they are fabricated with the sheet metal of the body portion of the door. y

Another object of the invention is to provide a front edge construction wherein the sheet 'metal of the `door is offset and a bar, originally of T section, substantially at right angles to the plane delined by the main body portion of the door, with the free end of the stem bent at `an angle and secured to the olf set body portion, While the oppositely extending head flanges of the T section are secured tothe sheet metal of the body portion at each side of the off set portion thereof, providing in effect a hollow tubular formation at the edge of the door, the majority of sides of which are defined by the,

flanges of the reinforcing bar.

Another object of the invention is to provide a similar reinforced construction at the rear edge of the door, with the additional feature that a spark or weather seal is formed integrally with the reinforcing bar, providing a specially strong and rugged construction well able to withstand hard service.

A. still further object of the invention is to provide reinforced front and rear edge constructions for the so-called outside type of double sliding doors wherein the reinforced ledge construction of one of the doors is utilized for supporting means to which the nail-- ing block is to be adapted to be secured.

Other. and further objects and advantages of the invention will more fully and clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter following. I

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a has its stem extendingI portion of a box car showing away in order better to of which is bent my improved door construction applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged, broken vertical .sectional view corresponding substantially to the line 2`2 of Fig. 1. ig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view corresponding to the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, the parts in this figure being broken figure on the sheet. Fig.4 is an enlarged detailed horizontal sectional view of a modified form of a rear edge construction of a door. And Fig. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional View of the forward edges of two doors showing still another embodiment of my invention.

Referring first to the construction illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, two doors are shown one of which, indicated at A, may be termed the auxiliary door of a double outside sliding type of door construction, and the door B may be designated as the main door of the double door construction. Each of the doors A and B is of the top-hung type, the door A being provided with hanger brackets, lfllf), while the door B is provided with hanger brackets 11-11, the brackets carrying rollers in the usual way, adapted to ride upon a suitable track 12 mounted on the side of the car above the door opening.y In Fig. 3 is illustrated a common arrangement of car structure for defining a side door opening, and, as shown, one side door post is indicated at 130,"an'd the opposite side door-post at 140, said posts being reinforced by Z bars 13 and 14, the inner flange of each of which is secured to the side wall structure 15 the Z bars 13 and 14 is provided with a guard, or spark strip member in the form of an angle 17, each angle member having an outwardly projectingflange 18, the extremity back upon itself as indicated at 19 in the drawing.

The auxiliar door A is of the sheet metal type and has the main body portion thereof comprised of a plurality of panels 20-20 with their horizontal edges overlapped and riveted, the sheet metal of the vdoor being provided with outwardly extending horizontally disposed corrugations 21, the body portion of the door thus formed being provided, adjacent its front edge, with a vertically eX- tending off-set 22 which extends outwardly from the main plane of the door at an angle thereto. The outer end of the angular off-set 22 is integrally formed with an off-set portion -23 disposed outwardly of the plane of the main body portion of the door but substantially parallel therewith, the off-set 23 being integrally formed with a wall 24 extending toward the edge of the door and inwardly toward the plane defined by the main body portion thereof, the angular off-set 22. the parallel off-set 23 and the inclined wall 24, defining a vertical corrugation adjacent the edge of the doorv into which the ends of accommodate the of the car body. Each of fl the horizontalcorrugations 21 merge. Secured to the forward edgel of the door A is a reinforcing bar preferably of heavier material than the sheet metal of the body portion of the door. Said bar preferably comprises a rolled section, originally of T cross-section, the stem of the T being indicated by the reference character 25, while the oppositely eX- .tending head flanges of the T section are designated by the numerals 26 and 27. In fabricating the T section with the forward section of the door A, the stem substantially atvri'ght angles plane defined by 'the body portion of the door and extends outwardly therefrom, the eX- tremity of the stem being bent to provide a flange portion 28 which is secured to the parallel off-set section 23 by means of rivets indicated at 29. The head flange 26 of the T section lies substantially in the plane defined by the main body portion of the door, the sheet metal of said body portion being slightly off-set as indicated at 30, to accom- Inodate the flange 26 in this osition, said flange being-secured to the body portion by rivets indicated at 31'. The head flange is provided with a plurality of openings 32 through which a bucking tool may be extended to facilitate the formation of theV rivets 29 which secure the stem flange 28 to the off-set or under surface of the crest of the edge corrugation. The opposite head flange 27 also lies in a plane common with the main plane of the body portion of the door and with the plane defined by the head ange 26. The wall 24 of the edge corrugation is secured to the head flange 27 by means of rivets indicated at 33. The flange 27 extends beyond the termination of the sheet v metal of the wall 24 and is bent outwardly to provide a curved sealing member 33a adapted toco-operate with the door B. Secured to the inner surface of the T member is a nailing block support or metal post 34, which is in the form of an angle member having its flange 35 secured to the flange 27 by means ofthe rivets 33, the free edge of the inwardly as indicated engagement with the The flange 36 of the member 34 extends substantially at right angles to the main body portion of the door and inwardly thereof, and is provided with a reinforcing angular section 37. A brace 38 is provided which extends from adjacent the end of the flange 26 of the T member, where it is secured, in an inclined direction toward the inner end of the vflange 36 of the support 34, the inner end of the brace 38 being riveted to the flange 36 as indicated at 39.

A nailing block 40 is secured to the support 34 by bolts or vother suitable means. Brackets 41 will preferably be mounted upon of the door frame and a Stop 41 engage- The reinforcing bar at the rear end of the door is somewhat similar to the T bar at the front edge of the door, comprising a stem 47, having a flange 48 secured to the off-set 44 by rivets 49, it being noted that the flange 48 of the stem is oppositely disposed with reference to the flange 28 of the front4 T member. The head flange 50 is secured to the body portion of the door in the same manner as the flange 26 of the front T section, by means of rivets indicated at 5l. The flange 5() is provided with openings 52 for the insertion of a tool in forming the rivets 49. The head flange 53 of the rear T section is riveted to the marginal portion 46 of the wall 45 by means of rivets 54. Integrally formed with the inner surface ofthe head flange 54 is a curved spark seal flange 55 which co-operates with the spark seal member 19 when the door is closed, it being noted that the door is so formed that no rivet heads are inthe way of the proper operation of the door, due to the slightly extended width thereof, so that the rivets can be placed outwardly of the spark seal member 55; also, there isno necessity for the utilization of countersunk rivets in securing thesemembcrs in position. The reinforcing elements at the front and rear of the door are provided with integral connecting members at their tops and bottoms, as indicated at 550, the flange 25 of the'front edge member, and the flange 47 of the rear edge member, being cut off at top and bottom, as indicated at 551, to Apermit the sheet metal ofthe adjacent panels of the door to be brought inwardly to lie against the transverse members 550 and be secured thereto, as indicated at 552.

The door B is similar in construction to the door A just described. Itis slidably mounted.

to move in a plane common with the plane of the door A, butin the opposite direction, and is slightly greater in width than the door A. The forward edge of the door B co-operates withthe forward edge of the door A in forming'ifeather seal, and is provided with a T member connected to the sheet metal of the body portion of the door, to provide a tubular formation in the same manner in which the tubular formation at the forward edge of the 'door A isprovided, .these formations extending verticallyalong the forward portions ofthev two. doors and projecting outwardly beyond the main plane of-each door similar reference characters are-'utilized to designate the corresponding parts ...of the'forward porsupport, as indicated at 59, to4 provi tion of the doors A and B, as well as other similar portions of said doors. At the for ward edge of the door B, the flange 27V of the T member is for the most part disposed in the main plane of the door, and extends toward the other door A; the extremity of the flange 27 is provided with a curved portion 56, which fits beneath the sealing member 33fon the door A, it being noted that the interengaging portions and 56 of the doors lie inwardly of the plane defined by the crests of the corrugations or tubular formations adjacent the forward edges of the two doors A and B. By this arrangement the ridgelike constructions provided by the tubular formations will serve to deflect the wind and revent the same driving rain into the joint. X- cept for the parts of the door mentioned above, it is the same in construction asl the door A; the door post arrangement at the forward edge of the door A, ofV course, is omitted from the door B, since the latter is designed to co-operate with the door post arrangement of the door A during operation of the door B. When the car is usedffor grain and lading of a similar be nailed to the post 4() and to the car structure adjacent theposts 130 and 140, in the usual manner.

Referring now to Fig. 4 of the drawings, a slightly different embodiment of the inven tion is contemplated. In'. this construction the parts are similarv to the rear edge constructionof the door A, except that the flange 48 on the stem of the T member is turned in the opposite direction to that in which the flange 48 is disposed, said flange, indicated at 57 ,being turned `outwardly toward the rear edge of the door.' In this embodiment of the invention, it will be'appreciated that-the con-` structionfshown atv the rear edge of the door may be 'utilized in connection with any edge of the door, either top, bottom or vforward edge, by omitting the flange length than the flange disclosed in'connection with Figs. l to 3, and the outer end thereof is bent outwardly from the inwardly 'bent portion of the flange 35 of the nailing ost groove 60. likewise has the offset 22 terminating at the flange 28 of the T member, as indicated at 61. The head flange 27 of the T member, instead of being curved, as indicated M556,r is straight, to provide a portion 62 which lits into the groove'60, to provide a wather seal; Attention is called tothe fact that by reason of the character, boards may A 55 where neces.

e a- The 'forward end of the door B provision of the ridgelike formations adjacent the'fornard edges of the doors A and B in this embodiment ot' the invention, the interengageable portions 35, 59 and 62 lie inside ofthe plane defined by the outer surfaces of the ridgelike formations, becauseY of their location substantially in the plane defined by the main plane of the body portions of the doors. It will be understood that the top, bottom and rear edges of the doors Aand B,

connection with any,

oors.

By the above described arrangement, it will be appreciated that a door construction is provided, having edges reinforced and fabricated in such tendency of the remforcing bars to twist, and wherein the reinforcing bars are Well able to withstand the blows to which they are subjected. By providing the apertures in the reinforcement bars, all difficulty which hitherto has existed in riveting the sheet metal to the reinforcing. bars is obviated, and the rivets may be placed at the most advantageous maximum strength and the reception of projecting means on the other door, to form a joint which lies substantially in the plane defined by the main body portions of the two doors, so that the tubular formations adjacent the sealing member, which project outwardly beyond the main' plane of the door a considerable distance, serve to deflect rainy and prevent the same entering the joint.

While I have herein shown and described What I consider the preferred manner of carr ing outthe invention, the same is merely lil ustrative, and I contemplate all changes and modifications which come Within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

claim: y

door of the character described, comportion of sheet metal having a reinforced vertical edge construction comprising a T member, the stem of which is disposed substantially at right angles to the main plane of the main body portion of the door, the stem of said T member being deformed to provide a flange disposed at an angle with respect to the remainder of said stem, said flange being seprxsing a main body cured to the sheet metal of the main body portion at one side of the main plane thereof, one of the head flanges of said T being secured to the body portion substantially in formed extension to the main plane defined by the body portion, and the other head flange extending outwardly from said stem, said outwardly eX- tending flange being deformed to provide a vertically disposed weather sealing member.

2. A door of the character described, the combination with a main body portion comprised of sheet metal and a T shaped reinforcing section, the stem of which extends substantially perpendicular to the main plane of the main body portion of the door, said stem having its end portion deformed to provide a flange, and the head flanges of said T element being arranged substantially in the plane defined by the main body portion of the-door, said body ortion being secured to both of said head fzinges and extending over the angular portion of said stem and being rigidly secured to the latter.

A door of the character described, comprising a reinforced metallic body portion having an edge corrugation; of a reinforcing element in the form of a T member having its stem arranged substantially at right angles to the main plane of the body portion of said door, said T member having its head flanges secured to the body portion of said door at opposite sides of said corrugation, and the stem of said T member extending into said corrugation and having an an ular portion thereon rigidly connected to sai corrugation at the peak thereof.

4. As an article of manufacture, a rein forcing element provided with a plurality of angular portions to which the reception of riveting tools to permit riveting' of parts of the door to a plurality of angular portions of said reinforcing element.

. 5. A door of the character described, coming element being of form with the stem thereof disposed substantially perpendicular with reference to the main plane of the body portion of said door, and said Istem having its end bent to form a flange, said body por- -tion being connected to the head flanges 0I' said T member, and said off-set connected to the flange on said stem, one of the head flanges of said T member being provided with a spark seal section.

forcing metallic car doors, said element being substantially of T formation with a stem and ead flanges, the stem of which is bent to provide a securing flange, and one of said head flanges provided with an integrally provide a spark seal.

7. FA car door comprising a main body p0rtion and including reinforced front and rear edge constructions, the front edge construction having fabricated therewith a reinforchead fiange of said member being arranged ing element substantially of T form, andthe to provide a recess for the reception of the rear edge also having fabricated therewith edge of a co-operating door.

a similar member, the T `member at the rear 12.' As an article of manufacture, a rein- 5 edge of said door being provided with an forcing edge bar for a door having the main 70 integrally formed spark seal section and the portion thereof comprised of sheet metal, said stems of both T-menibers extending perpenbar including two integrally formed sections dicular to the main plane'of the door. arranged parallel to each other and s aced 8. A car door comprising a'main body porapart, one of said sections being of lesser tion and including reinforced front and rear width than lthe`other, the section of greater 75 edge constructions, the front edge const-i'ucwidth being provided with apertures theretion having fabricated therewith a reinforcalong in alignment with said narrower secing element` substantially of T forni, and the tion, wlieieby portions of the sheet metal ofV rear edge also having fabricated therewith a the main part of the door may be secured to similar member,theTniember at the rearedge both of said sections, and access to the se- 80 of said door being provided with an integralcuring means to the narrower section being ly formed spark seal, and the stems of said had through said apertures. rear member and said front member being 13. As an article of manufacture, a reinbeiit and rigidly secured to an olf-set adja forcing edge bar for a door, having the main cent the edges of the main body portion of portion thereof of comprised of sheet metal, 85 the door, said main body portion being sesaid bar including integrally formed porcured to the head flanges of each T member tions disposed in ys aced relation with one at opposite sides of each of said off-sets. overhanging the ot er, said bar being pro- 9. In a construction of the character devided with an integral spark sealing section,

scribed, the combination with a main door one of said portions being-provided with ap- 90 and an auxiliary door, each of said doors ertures therealoiig in alignment with the being provided at their meeting edges with other portion, whereby parts of the sheet reinforced edge constructions havingT memmetal of the main part of the door may bel bers fabricated within each edge construction, secured to both of said portions, access to 3oA the stem and one head flange of each member the securing means for said other portion 95 being rigidly secured to the main body porbeing had through said apertures, said sealtion of the related door, and the remaining ing section being arranged clear of said aperhead flanges projecting outwardly toward tures. each other and being bent to form overlap- 14. As an article of manufacture, a reinping portio-ns to provide a, weather seal. forcing member for a vertical edge of a door, 10o

10. A door of the character described, comsaid member having a main web, a flange exprising a main body portion; a reinforcing tending from one side thereof near one edge element substantially in the form of a T memof the web and adapted to provide a weather ber,the stem being disposed substantially perseal, and a flange extending from the oppendicular with reference to the main body posite side of the web near the other edge of 105 portion of the door, and the head flanges the web, said last named flange having the lyinor substantially in the main plane dened free edge portion thereof bent into approxiby t e main body portion of the door, said mate parallelism with the web and to which bod portion overlapping and being secured is adapted to be secured a portion of a door 5 to t e stem portion of said member; and a sheet. no nailing block support rigidly affixed to the 15. A reinforced sheet metal door for cars, head flanges of said reinforcing element and the saine comprising: a main body portion extending inwardly of the main plane, of comprised of sheet metal having a vertically Said 00L extending corrugation adjacent each vertical 11. A door of the character described, comedge 0f the door; and a reinforcing bali at 115 prising a main body por-tion; a reinforcing each yertical edge, each of said bars having element substantially in the form of aT mema mam web brldgmg the Open mouth of the ber, the stem of saidT memberbeing disposed C0rrugat10n.and. Secured to the Shaft metal substantially perpendicular with reference alf Opostl miles O the Corrilgfmnach to the main body portion of the door, and the im a? amig a S0 a @g-prole@ mg gre' 12 head anges of Said T membr lying Sub rom into t e correspon ing corrugation, stantiall in the main lane defined b the each-ange havmg an Outer bent portlon exf Ph a d 5,?) d tending parallel to the web and secured to the man? bo X port-lon 0 t e. Oor Sm o y crest of the corrugation.

i0 pomo bemg Secured to Sad Stent .and head v16. A reinforced sheet metal door com- 125 flanges 0 S'}1d member and 5f nmhng block prising: a main body portion formed of sheet SUPPPYt jlgldl fixed t0 the head flanges metal and having an outwardly disposed corof saild reilorcing elment xdtondmg 111- rugaticfin extending fverticallby along one edge war y o e main p ane o sai oor a porthereo and a. rein orcing ar having a web $5 tion of said nailing block support, aiid one and a flange extending outwardly therefrom, 13av diagonally disposed brace secured ssh said web bridging the open mouth of the cori s ada ted to be secured; and bracing means rugation and secured to the sheet metal along exten ing between said web and post.

opposite sides of the corrugation, said flange extending Within the'corrugation and having a bent outer portion arranged parallel tothe Web, said outer bent portion being secured to the crest ofthe corrugation.

17. auxiliary reinforced metal door for a double door car opening, said auxiliary door comprising: a main body portion composed of sheet metal and having a vertically extending corrugation therein along the front edge of the door; a reinforcing b ar for said front edge of the door comprising a main web and an outwardly extended fiange,

another flange of said support extending inwardly from the web of the bar; and a along one edge of said inwardly extending flange of the support, the opposite edge of said brace being secured to the web of said bar and the sheet metal of the door inwardly of the corrugation. 18. An auxiliary door for a house car double door opening, said auxiliary door commain body portion of sheet metal aving a portion thereof, adjacent the forward edge, outwardly-oiset from the main plane of the door; a. vertically disposed reinforcing memberfor the forward edge of said door, said member having a web disposed substantially in the main plane of the door with one edge thereof secured to the main rugationtherein for its front edge; a reinforcing member for said front edge of the In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 21st day of February, 1928.

FRANK DITCHFIELD. 

